After my visit to Sultanpur bird sanctuary, I got a peek into the beautiful world of birds. This led us to plan a trip to Bharatpur bird sanctuary to further observe these wonderful creatures.
Keoladeo bird scantuary is a drive of around 4 hrs from Gurgaon. Its an easy drive via the Srinagar-Chennai Highway. We started from home around 8am, had breakfast at Haldirams on NH8 and then took off via the KMP expressway. Its a newly constructed road and a delight to drive. We were so engrossed in the drive that we missed the speed limit boards and got our first speeding ticket(Speed limit here is 100kph, even though its temping please don't overspeed, for your and everyone elses' safety). From the expressway then we caught the Srinagar Chennai highway and drove till Mathura ,then took a detour for Bharatpur. This was the trickiest part of the drive as the road is mostly single lane and with no divider, got almost bumped with a mad cow on that road.
We reached our hotel in Bharatpur around 12.45 pm.Our stay was in the Forest Lodge inside the national park premises. Its a RTDC property, but not very well maintained.Our only reason to choose it was that it was situated inside the park. After ariving at the hotel, we had lunch and took rest for few mins. We had booked a rickshaw to ply with Gabruji before hand, had got is number from a blog and had heard good reviews about him. He had a fair idea about the birds as well.
After sunset we returned to our hotel and decided to get back to the park at 6.30 am the next day.
I had a great impulse to get back to the park once we were done with breakfast and checkout from the hotel, but then we had to return to Gurgaon as well. So had to shake off that thought and started journey back home.
I had a great impulse to get back to the park once we were done with breakfast and acheckout from the hotel, but then we had to return to gurgaon as well. So had to shake off that thought and started journey back home.
Bharatpur is a paradise for bird watchers. My visit here was both beautiful and insightful , which opened the doors of my mind to the fabulous avian world. Walk, cycle or take a rickshaw according to your convenience, but if you are interested in birdwatching, do take a good guide, its worth every penny, and do plan to spend the entire day in the park, as different phases of the day throws off different characters of the inmates here .I have every intention to come back here very soon.
We started for the park around 2.15 pm. It was sunny and there was quite a rush of people inside the park.Our First sitting were of the Spotted dear and the white breasted kingfisher. Then once the wetlands started we started spotting a number of birds like the spot billed duck, common pochard, lesser whistling duck,common teal, red crested pochard, combed duck, grey lag goose, coot, redshank along with the darters, pond herons, grey herons ,purple heron, ergets, black headed ibis. It was a pretty sight to see these birds in their natural habitat. Its amazing to see so many colors and patterns. They look ordinary from a distance, but use a binocular and check them up close, its a splash of colors, all bright and shiny. While looking at these birds, I wondered what must be going on in their mind while looking at us(probably, why these weird creatures are looking at us). While observing these birds, I felt that many of the local birds here are very much accustomed to presence of humans and are not much bothered.Going ahead we found a couple of of saras crane, few spotted dear, a black necked stork and a cow are busy in searching for food and basking under the sun together at a distance. Along the way we found a golden eagle,oriental honey buzzard, indian spotted eagle & greater spotted eagle. All perched high on the trees and far away. I wished we had better lens to capture these birds, beautiful and majestic. As it started getting darker we headed back towards the sunset point. The sky was little cloudy so couldn't get a great view of the sunset, but nevertheless still beautiful.
After sunset we returned to our hotel and decided to get back to the park at 6.30 am the next day.
Next morning we entered the park at exact 6.30 am. It was foggy and we were the first people to enter. The whole set up was magical, with the fog adding to the character. We could see deer and sambar walking on the road from a distance. Then as it started getting brighter the birds came into view. Going further we fund a couple of saras crane coming towards the water body while searching for food. We spent some time observing this couple and their calls. All along also witnessing a beautiful and foggy sunshine as well. The nilgais and sambars where running across the water body and playing with each other. It was a happy morning for everyone.Going ahead we witnessed the hovering of a pied kingfisher before catching a fish. It was one of the cutest thing to see there along with the peek-a-boo by a little spotted owl.We also came across a colony of bats as well. Chasing the kingfishers, robins, flycatchers, doves, pigeons etc, we had no idea how 4 hrs flew by and it was time to get back.
